The temple in images of the Annunciation: a double dogmatic symbol according to the Latin theological tradition (6th-15th centuries)

. This article2 aims to unveil the doctrinal meanings that many Church Fathers and theologians have deciphered in some Old Testament terms such as templum, tabernaculum, domus Sapientiae, arca and other similar expressions related to sacred spaces or containers. In many specific cases, they have interpreted these expressions as metaphors or symbols of the Virgin Mary’s womb and Christ’s human nature. As a consequence, these interpretive approaches are reflected in some images of the Annunciation of the 14th and 15th centuries. So this article will analyze first a selected set of patristic, theological, and liturgical texts, and secondly, will examine eight paintings of the Annunciation with a temple-shaped house to see if there is an essential relation between those exegetical texts and these pictorial images. Based on that double analysis, it seems reasonable to conclude that the temple depicted in these Annunciations is a visual metaphor that illustrates the doctrinal meanings decrypted by the Fathers and theologians in their interpretations of the textual metaphors mentioned above. interpretativos se reflejan en algunas imágenes de la Anunciación de los siglos XIV y XV. Por lo tanto, este artículo analizará primero un selecto conjunto de textos patrísticos, teológicos y litúrgicos, y en segundo lugar analizará ocho pinturas de la Anunciación con una casa en forma de templo, para ver si hay alguna relación esencial entre esos textos exegéticos y esas imágenes pictóricas. Basado en ese doble análisis, parece razonable concluir que el templo representado en estas Anunciaciones es una metáfora visual que ilustra los significados doctrinales descifrados por los Padres y teólogos en sus interpretaciones de las metáforas textuales antes mencionadas.


Introduction
Systematic research into the primary sources of Christian doctrine has long provided us with a series of surprising findings. One of them is the countless series of comments with which, for more than a millennium -from at least the 3rd to the 15th century-many Fathers and theologians of the Greek-Eastern and Latin Churches interpret several Old Testament expressions, such as "templum Dei," "abode of the Most High," "house of Wisdom," "sanctuary," "tabernacle," "altar," "ark," and other similar metaphorical expressions related to spaces 1 or containers devoted to the sacred. In this specific case, the most surprising outcome is the substantial exegetical agreement of all thinkers, both Eastern and Western, since they all agree in considering such expressions according to a double and complementary Christological and Mariological projection. All those Fathers and theologians from East and West agree in interpreting these biblical expressions as textual metaphors of God the Son's incarnation in Mary's virginal womb, as well as Mary's virginal divine motherhood.
In this article we restrict ourselves to consider only some exegetical testimonies that the Latin Fathers and theologians provide in this regard from the 6th to the 15th century, thus complementing what we have exposed in another article on similar explanation proposed by the Latin Church Fathers since the 3rd century until the Second Council of Constantinople (553) 3 . Furthermore, these two articles are complemented by another study in which we address the interpretations given by the Greek-Eastern Fathers from the 3rd to the 9th century on these metaphorical expressions 4 . It should be pointed out that what we show in the current article is only a small set of Latin exegetical texts, selected from among the many that we have so far registered, a selective restriction needed in order not to overstretch this article.
On the other hand, our frequent examination of the images of medieval sacred art soon revealed the existence of many pictures of the Annunciation in whose scene the house of Mary exhibits a precise shape of temple or chapel. Such a finding could not surprise us, since, as the essential content of the medieval Christian image is based on doctrinal texts, it was easy to suppose that the many exegetical comments mentioned above would have some reflection on the sacred iconography of the Middle Ages.
Because of both findings, in this article, we will first proceed to analyze a series of texts alluding to the textual metaphors under study. Then we will examine eight paintings of the Annunciation that include a house with a (more or less explicit) temple aspect. The comparative analysis of both sets, texts, and images will allow deducing some reasonably founded iconographic interpretations of these eight Annunciations 5 .

Analysis of patristic, theological and liturgical texts on the figure of templum Dei and other similar metaphors
It should be pointed out at the outset that the robust and ancient Christian doctrinal tradition on the interpretation of the metaphorical expressions templum, tabernaculum, 3 We have studied this subject in the paper Salvador-Gonzáez, José María, 2020b, "Latin theological interpretations on templum Dei until the Second Council of Constantinople (553): a double Christological and Mariological symbol" (article under revision in an academic journal).

4
See Salvador-González, José María, 2020c,"Greek Fathers's interpretations on templum Dei as a double theological metaphor (3th-9th centuries)" (article under revision in an academic journal). 5 The current article complements what we have dealt with in the following three papers: Salvador-González, José María. 2020a, "Iconographic interpretation of the temple as a theological symbol in images of The Annunciation of the 14th and 15th centuries", Fenestella. Inside Medieval Art, 1 (in press); Salvador-González, José María, 2020b, "Latin theological interpretations on templum Dei until the Second Council of Constantinople (553): a double Christological and Mariological symbol"; Salvador-Gonzáez, José María, 2020c, "Greek Fathers's interpretations on templum Dei as a double theological metaphor (3th-9th centuries)" (the last two articles are under revision in two academic journals). domus Sapientiae, sanctuarium Trinitatis, arca, and other similar metaphors alluding to spaces or containers of the godhead is documented with high abundance and diversity not only in exegetical writings of well-known Church Fathers and theologians but also in countless medieval Latin liturgical hymns, almost all anonymous, which were sung at various times of customary rituals or devotional acts and some festivals religious of the liturgical year. For this reason, we will analyze separately in the following two subsections some representative texts of both sets: in the first, we will study many explanatory texts by Fathers and theologians; in the second subsection, we will bring a few stanzas drawn from medieval liturgical hymns.
It should be pointed out from now on that, despite their substantial unanimity of criteria when interpreting the expressions mentioned above as metaphors for God the Son's incarnation in Mary's virginal womb, the Fathers and theologians of the East and the Occupation adopted, however, three exegetical variants, not antithetical, but complementary, depending on the emphasis given to one or the other of the protagonists of this incarnation: most of them assumed an exclusively Mariological variant, which considers that the templum Dei and other similar expressions symbolize Mary, and more specifically her virginal womb; some believed another Christological option, which recognize that these symbolize Christ, and specifically, the human body or nature to which He unites his divine nature when incarnating; only a few adopted a third variant, the double variant, simultaneously, Mariological and Christological, because they consider that these expressions mean both the body of Christ and the womb of Mary, for the simple reason that God the Son took his human body from the belly of the Virgin.

The interpretive tradition in Church Fathers and medieval theologians since the 6th century
In the middle of the 6th century, St. Justus, Bishop of Urgell, ranks among the defenders of the Christological interpretation. In writing on the Song of Songs, he interprets the Apostle John's quote, "And my prayer came to your holy temple," saying that we must understand as the right Lord's temple this human body whom the fullness of God united in Mary's virginal womb and helped Humanity by redeeming it 6 .
Probably towards the end of the 6th century or the beginning of the 7th century, the exquisite Italian poet and hymnographer St. Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530-c. 607/609), Bishop of Poitiers, stands on the double interpretive variant, Mariological and Christological at the same time. Thus, in a comment on the Creed, he asserts that Christ, born of God the Father before all centuries, later made his temple (his body) by the work of the Holy Spirit; for just as in the sanctification of the divine Spirit there is no fragility, so no corruption appeared in her delivery; in this way, the unique one (Only-Begotten) in heaven and unique (only-begotten) on earth, accepted to enter the world through Virgin Mary's door (vulva) 7 . In another passage from this same sermon, Fortunatus points out that affirming that Christ chose for himself to form the temple of his human body in Mary's womb means that he preserved her virginity in conceiving and giving birth to him 8 . Thus the author states that even identifying this metaphor of templum Dei with Christ's human body formed from Virgin's bowels, such metaphor necessarily implies the preservation of Mary's virginity in Christ's conception, or, in other words, necessarily involves Mary's virginal divine motherhood and Christ's supernatural conception/incarnation in Virgin's immaculate entrails.
However, complementing this Christological interpretation, Venantius Fortunatus also subscribes to the Mariological projection, when in a versed hymn in honor of Christ and the Virgin Mary he proclaims in lyrical outpourings: Happy virginity, which is worthy of the Almighty with childbirth, The one that deserved to beget her Creator. The Creator's temples are the virgin's modest members, And God Himself dwells in such an abode. How much can the wife please for her virginity Whom his mother delights but as a virgin! 9 Venantius Fortunatus is thus, to our knowledge, the last Latin thinker to subscribe simultaneously to the two exegetical versions, Mariological and Christological, on the figure of the templum Dei and similar metaphorical expressions. All the Latin authors that we will analyze be-7 "Qui natus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine. Ille qui de Patre ante saecula natus est, postea de Spiritu Sancto, cujus templum in Virgine fabricatum est intelligendum. Nam sicut in sanctificatione spiritus nulla fragilitas exstitit, sic nec in partu ejusdem causa corruptionis apparuit. Qui in coelis unus, in terris unicus, per portam Virginis ingredi mundum dignatus est." (Venantius Fortunatus,Miscellanea. Liber XI,Caput Primum. Expostio Symboli. PL 88,348 In the first half of the 7th century, the Spanish polygraph scholar St. Isidore, archbishop of Seville (c. 556-636), in one of his many apologetic writings, describes the Virgin Mary as "clear lineage of David, a stem of Jesse, closed orchard, sealed fountain, Mother of the Lord, temple of God, tabernacle of the Holy Spirit, Holy Virgin, virgin recently delivered, a virgin before childbirth, virgin after childbirth", for which she welcomed the greeting of the angel Gabriel and recognized the mystery of her conception 10 .
Towards the middle of the 11th century the Benedictine reformer St. Peter Damian (1007-1072), bishop of Ostia and cardinal, declares in his 15th sermon on the birth of Mary that, as the redemption of humankind was impossible if Christ had not been born of the Virgin, so it was also necessary for the Virgin to be born in whom the Word of God could incarnate 11 . Therefore, it was convenient for the King of heaven to build a house first, according to Solomon's sentence "Wisdom has built her house," a home in which God deigned to have his lodging when descending to earth 12 . This house has been built by the Eternal Wisdom for herself in such a way that it [Mary's womb] was worthy to receive and procreate her [the Eternal Wisdom] from the entrails of her immaculate flesh 13 . Some lines later the author asks this rhetorical question: if Solomon solemnly celebrated with Israel's people the dedication of a temple made with stones with such an abundant and magnificent sacrifice, how much joy should the birth of Mary give the Christian people, in whose womb, as a holy temple, God himself deigned to take human nature from her and live visibly with humanity? 14 Peter Damian goes on to say that, although we believe that God descended to that temple of Solomon, however, God accepted to remain in our favor in a much more beautiful and happy way in this reasonable sanctuary that is Virgin's womb, in which "the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." 15 A few lines later, the author states that God descended to this temple amid the darkness of Jews' infidelity; and not only deigned to descend to this temple, which is Virgin Mary's womb but from it, he took our mortal human nature for himself and united it to his perfect divine nature 16 .
In the last decades of the 11th century, the Italian Benedictine theologian St. Anselm of Aosta (1033-1109), archbishop of Canterbury, in prayer in honor of the Virgin calls her "the royal hall of universal propitiation, the cause of general reconciliation, the vessel and the temple of life and salvation for all people"; then he declares himself incompetent to review all the benefits that she granted him and people, which acclaims her as their lady 17 . Moreover, in his 53rd sermon in praise of Mary, he pleads for her help and mercy, lauding her as the inviolate and incomparable Virgin Mother of God, "the most grateful temple of God, the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit, the door of heaven," through which all humankind lives after God 18 .
In another speech in honor of the Virgin, Anselm extols her as the Mother of God, the temple of the living God, the royal palace of the eternal King, the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit (O beata Dei genitrix, virgo Maria, templum Dei vivi, aula Regis aeterni, sacrarium Spiritus sancti) 19 . According to the author, for a unique, incomparable privilege and miracle, she made possible for the Word of God, begotten of God the Father before all centuries, to also become her son, being at the same time God and man (cui novo et inaudito miraculo datum est ut Verbum quod ante saecula Deus genuit, fieret filius tuus, Deus et homo) 20 .
A few stanzas later St. Anselm exclaims: Hail, the temple of Jerusalem, That has a heavenly form, From whose sanctuary The vision of the Father came 23 .
In the first decades of the 12th century, the Benedictine monk and cardinal Geoffrey of Vendôme (c.1070-1132) points out in a sermon on Christ's Nativity that "the most beautiful and incomparable Virgin Mary", from whose womb the Son of God came to us (templum Domini est Maria beatissima et incomparabilis virgo, de cujus utero ad nos venit Dei Patris imago), is not only the temple's door predicted by the prophet Ezekiel, but is also "the Lord's temple", from whose womb the God's Imago (Christ)  Around the same years, Peter Abelard and St. Bernard of Clairvaux joined the widespread Mariological interpretation of templum Dei and other similar metaphorical expressions. The controversial scholastic philosopher Peter Abelard (1079-1142) testifies in a sermon on the Nativity that the Lord Jesus came to us through the Virgin Mary as if she were a door and as to his temple, while marrying our human nature in it 25 .
Some years later, the influential Cistercian abbot and reformer St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), commenting on Jesus's virginal birth in a sermon for the Christmas vigil, eulogizes the "unique, painless, candid, incorruptible birth; that consecrates the virginal womb's temple without desecrating it," and the "birth, which transcends the laws of nature, although transforming it; unimaginable in the realm of the miraculous, but remedied by the energy of its mystery." 26 And in a sermon on the Virgin's Purification, St, Bernard puts in a complex circumlocution these rhetorical questions in Mary's mouth: Do you think that she could not lament and say: "Why do I need purification? Why abstain from entering the temple, having turned my womb, which knows no man, into a temple of the Holy Spirit? Why should I not enter the temple, I who have given birth to the Lord of the temple? In this conception and this childbirth, there was nothing impure or illicit that should be purified: this is evident being my son the purity's source and coming to purify the sins [of humankind]. What will the rite purify me, I who have been made pure in the same immaculate delivery?" 27 Almost at the same time the German theologian and scientist Honorius of Autun (c. 1080-c. 1157) interprets two biblical quotes -"Whoever created me rested in my tabernacle," and "In the sun he set his tabernacle"-, in the sense that the Tabernacle of the Church or God is the blessed Virgin Mary, in whom God the Son becoming man rested, and from whom the husband leaves his bridal room 28 .
More than a century later, the famous Franciscan scholastic teacher and cardinal St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio (c.1217 / 1221-1274), in a sermon on Mary's Purification, brings some reasonings for justifying to apply these metaphorical concepts to Mary. He begins saying that, from the allegorical perspective, we can say that Mary's womb is a right temple in which the 26 "O partus solus sine dolore, solus nescius (p. 126) pudoris, corruptionis ignarus, non reserans, sed consecrans virginalis uteri templum! O nativitas supra naturam, sed pro natura; miraculi excellentia superans, sed reparans virtute mysterii!" (Bernardus Claraevallensis, In Vigilia Nativitatis Domini. Sermo Primus, 1. In Obras completas de San Bernardo. Edición bilingüe (promovida por la Conferencia Regional Española de Abades Cistercienses, Vol. III. Sermones litúrgicos (1º), Madrid, La Editorial Católica, 1985, 127-128 Ibid., 627). We have made the English translation of this text entire deity inhabited bodily 29 . Therefore we can designate it rightly as God's temple built by the divine power, decorated by the divine wisdom, consecrated by the grace of God and fulfilled with the presence of God 30 . Bonaventure insists on the idea that the construction of this temple has been made by the Father's power; its ornamentation, by Son's wisdom; his consecration, by the Holy Spirit's grace; its fullness, by the Incarnate Word's presence 31 . That is due -the author concludes-to the fact that being "the noble triclinium of the whole Trinity," it is, nonetheless, the incarnate Word's exclusive temple and abode 32 .
In another sermon on the Annunciation, when interpreting the Ecclesiastical phrase "He who gave me being rested in my tabernacle," St. Bonaventure explains that the Creator ("He who gave me being") and the inhabitant (the one who "Rested in my tabernacle"), "are the same person, God and man at the same time" (Idem enim est Crea tor et inhabitator, quia idem est Deus et homo) 33 . Then the author confirms that these words alluding to the tabernacle of God "apply, in effect, literally, to the Virgin Mary, in whose tabernacle rested the Lord bodily" (secundum intellectum litteralem convenit Virgini Mariae, in cuius tabernaculo requievit Dominus corporaliter) 34 . A few lines later, St. Bonaventure reiterates: So let the Virgin Mary say first: He who created me, etc., because it conforms literally to her; because the Lord of Majesty himself rested in his tabernacle, as he became a man in her womb; therefore the most excellent prophet says: The Most High sanctified his tabernacle. He indeed sanctified by the grace the tabernacle he had made by forming a [human] nature so that he could be born from her 35 .

Doctrinal tradition on the figure of templum Dei and other similar metaphors in medieval Latin liturgical hymnals
The Christian doctrinal tradition that interprets the figure "temple of God" and other analogous metaphors as symbols of Mary (in her virginal divine motherhood) and of Christ (in her virginal conception/incarnation) is also built and strengthened by hymns, songs, antiphons, prayers and other liturgical and devotional expressions produced throughout the Middle Ages, especially from the 11th century onwards. From this extraordinarily rich -although, unfortunately, very little known and, still less, exploited-a medieval liturgical and devotional tradition on the metaphorical expressions under analysis, we now present, as a representative sample, a selection of stanzas extracted from numerous medieval liturgical hymns.
Before starting this new subsection, two preliminary remarks prevail. First, in this specific research the three valuable collections of medieval Latin liturgical hymns compiled in the mid-nineteenth century (1853-1855) 36 by the German archivist and historian Franz Joseph Mone (1796Mone ( -1871, especially the second one 37 , have been extremely useful to us, to whom we cannot but thank for their enormous work of compilation, transcription and critical edition of those hymns from old and forgotten codices. Second, we will expose the selected liturgical texts without giving further explanation, since they are sufficiently explicit on identifying Mary as God's temple or similar metaphors, about her virginal divine motherhood and Son of God's supernatural conception/incarnation in her virginal womb.
To begin with, our anthology of liturgical texts, the Hymn 398, elaborated on the Ave Maria prayer, indicates: Hymn 484 greets Mary with these metaphorical compliments: Hail, holy temple of God, Source of salvation, the door of hope, All the inmates run towards you With full confidence 41 .
Hymn 522 exalts Mary with these suggestive analogies: Hail, the temple of the supreme King, Hail, protector of the flock of Christ, The flowery stem of Jesé. Hail, Virgin Savior, Whose name is Mary, Refulgent star of the sea 42 .

Analysis of some images of the Annunciation (ss. XIV-XV) with the house of Mary in the form of a temple
The consolidated doctrinal tradition -based on that abundant, multi secular, and concordant series of interpretations of the textual metaphors above in their double Mariological and Christological projections already mentioned-is illustrated in many medieval images of the Annunciation, a Marian event in which God the Son's incarnation became real. That is why some Annunciations in the 14th and 15th centuries depict Mary's home in Nazareth with a surprising aspect of temple or chapel 43 . We will now analyze eight images of the Annunciation that include this particular feature. In this Trastevere Annunciation Cavallini places the angel Gabriel on a synthetic landscaped ground (suggested by the plants that grow on it), still walking towards Mary, whom he blesses, while holding the herald's rod in his left hand. In the middle of the upper edge, God the Father, represented as a haloed head, emits a ray of light that descends on the Virgin, carrying in his wake the Holy Spirit in the form of a white dove. Holding a closed book in her left hand -proof of Jesse virga florida: Salve, Virgo salutaris, Quae Maria nuncuparis, Stella maris lucida." ("Hymnus 522. De b. Maria", in Ibid, 308).

43
More or less in this order of ideas, the prestigious iconographer Louis Réau expresses: "Le décor de la Salutation Angélique s'est transformé au cours des siècles. D'après l'Évangile de Luc et les Apocriphes, la scène se passe dans la maison habitée à Nazareth par Joseph et la Sainte Vierge. Si les textes son peu explicites, ils sont unanimes sur ce point. Cependant l'art chrétien n'en a longtemps tenu aucun compte. Au lieu de localiser l'apparution de l'Ange dans la 'chambre de la petite maison de Marie', comme l'imagine le Pseudo-Bonaventure, les artistes ne se font aucun scrupule de la transporter dans un palais ou dans une église, soit même sous un portique ou en plein air au milieu d'un jardin." (Louis Réau, 1957, Iconographie de l'Art Chrétien, Tome Second. Iconographie de la Bible. II. Nouveau Testament, Paris: PUF, 185-186). 44 It is known that the cardinal and writer Jacopo Caetani degli Stefaneschi (c. 1270Stefaneschi (c. -1343, brother of the principal of these Cavallini mosaics, was the one who wrote the verses that appear inscribed under each of the mosaic scenes of the aforementioned cycle of Life of the Virgin in this Roman basilica. It is therefore not surprising that Cardinal Stefaneschi himself was the one who instructed Cavallini iconographically, inducing him to capture the throne / altarpiece / altar in this Annunciation as a theological symbol of Mary. having interrupted her prayer/meditation due to the angel's unexpected arrival-and placing the right hand on her chest as a sign of modesty and fear, Mary is sitting on a throne. What interests us most in this case is that Cavallini has embedded the Virgin's throne in a miniaturized construction with the aspect of an altarpiece (the main body) and an altar (the two side tables). Now, bearing in mind that during the Duecento and in most of the Trecento, the architectures represented in the paintings and sculptures to figure buildings or cities were shaped on a tiny scale and with extreme morphological simplicity -almost always synthesized by some of its most connoted parts-, it seems clear that the author of this Annunciation of Santa Maria in Trastevere wants to signify through this altarpiece/altar the temple in its entirety: it would thus be an allusion through a metonymy, since a part of a whole (the altarpiece/altar) would represent and mean the whole, in this case, a temple in its entirety. It looks reasonable to conjecture that the intellectual author of this Marian scene -perhaps some friar or cleric who could have iconographically advised the material author, Cavallini 44 -has taken into account the deep symbolic meanings that Mary's house in the shape of a temple encloses in the decisive salvific episode of the Annunciation, as we have shown in the first part of this article.  Jacopo di Cione (1325-1390), staged The Annunciation, c. 1371 of the basilica of the Convento di San Marco in Florence (Fig. 2), in a building with a certain resemblance to a small Christian temple, with an unusual mixture of Romanesque and Gothic elements. This is implied by the Gothic windows of the room and the external towers, one of which features both a Romanesque rose window and the Lombard-inspired blind little arches, also visible in the room above the Gothic windows. Flying over the building in the middle of a mandorla of cherubim, God the Father sends with his right hand towards the Virgin a ray of light, in whose wake the dove of the Holy Spirit is already approaching Mary. Inside the luxurious room, the dialogue between the two protagonists takes place. Kneeling and crossing the arms over his chest, the angel greets the Virgin with the praise Ave gra[tia] plena Do[minus] tecum, which is seen inscribed in golden letters in a line that leaves his mouth towards Mary. Seated under a purple canopy, leaning down the head with the left hand covering her chest, the Virgin shows her final acceptance of God's plan by pronouncing Ecce ancilla D[omi]ni, which emits from her mouth in a line inscribed in golden letters towards Gabriel. As additional proof of her consent to the design of the Most High, Mary lays her hand on the prayer book -as the one who swears by putting her hand on the Bible does-, whose open pages read Isaiah's prophecy Ecce virgo concipiet et pariet [filium], announcing the birth of the Messiah in Virgin's womb.
We are interested here in highlighting the (relatively lax) resemblance of a temple that the painter has given to Mary's dwelling, with the probable intention of illustrating in this scene of the Annunciation the doctrinal symbolisms that we explained above.
Commissioned by John of France, Duke of Berry, the Limbourg Brothers illuminated between 1405 and 1408 or 1409 the splendid devotional book Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry, one of whose full-page miniatures is The Annunciation we are analyzing here. Framed by a luxurious fringe full of foliage, prophets, musician angels, naked children, and animals, along with the Duke's two coats of arms, the scene of the Annunciation takes place in a luxurious vaulted room, with a specific appearance of a chapel or ecclesiastical compound. This is suggested by the design of columns, arches, entablatures, and roof, the unusual balcony/pulpit in which God the Father, surrounded by angels, blesses Mary, as well as the elaborate lectern with an ark (to keep books), which is prolonged in the form of a "Solomonic" column and crowned by the statue of Moses with the tablets of the Law.
In that secluded enclosure, the angel, holding a large, symbolic stem of lilies 45 in his left hand, points with his right index finger to the Virgin as the designated one by the Most High to be the mother of his divine Son. Kneeling on the ground with the hands crossed on her chest, Mary humbly accepts the design of God, while the fertilizing beam of rays coming from God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove arrives on her head. In this miniature, relatively similar to the case of the Cavallini mosaic just analyzed, the small chapel-like room metonymically represents the entirety of a great temple, as a metaphor for the dogmatic meanings that we exposed in the first part of the paper. Robert Campin (c. 1375-1444) organizes the episode of his Annunciation, c. 1420-1425, of the Prado Museum in Madrid (Fig. 4), in the context of an elaborate Gothic temple. Inside her central nave, Mary appears seated on a cushion on the floor, absorbed in reading a great prayer book, unaware of the presence of the angel Gabriel. Clad in luxurious red cope, he remains to kneel outside the temple, holding the herald's staff in his right hand. In the upper left corner, God the Father, amid a shining halo and escorted by angels, sends to the Virgin a ray of light, which after passing through a window, reaches Mary, whose head radiates a halo of beams of a similar nature. It should be noted that Robert Campin, if having planned the event of the Annunciation in this vast Gothic church, undoubtedly does so intentionally for suggestively visualizing the exegetical approach according to which Mary is the true templum Dei, as shown in the first part of the current paper 46 .
With the robust realism typical of early Flemish painters, Jan van Eyck (c. 1390-1441) designs The Annunciation in a church, c. 1434, of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (Fig. 5), in a massive, colossal temple. In the middle of the central nave, the two interlocutors of the Marian event synthetically express the initial and final moments of the wellknown dialogue between them. Clad in sumptuous purple cope with gold brocade, the smiling angel Gabriel, pointing upwards to show the origin of his message, pronounces the initial praise ave gra[tia] plena, inscribed in gold letters in a line directed towards Mary. She expresses her unrestricted acceptance to the divine will humbly enouncing the sentence ecce ancilla d [omi]ni, written in golden letters -inverted from top to bottom and from right to left-directed to the heavenly messenger. Meanwhile, the beam of rays of light, descending from the heights, falls into the right ear of Mary, thus signifying the famous thesis of the conceptio per aurem 47 .
Apart from the symbolic meanings of the stem of lilies and the open prayer book in front of the Virgin, we are now interested in fixing our interpretive focus on the massive temple into which the artist has transformed the Virgin's abode in this panel. In doing so, the intellectual author of this Annunciation in a church -maybe van Eyck himself, or probably a cler-46 When analizing this Annunciation, Felix Thürlemann (2002, Robert Campin: a monographic study with critical catalogue, Munich, Prestel, 196, fig. 208) -who denyes the authorship of Robert Campin on it-, ignores the doctrinal symbolism of this painted temple. 47 We have studied this issue in the article Salvador-González, 2015a, José María. "Per aurem intrat Christus in Mariam. Aproximación iconográfica a la conceptio per aurem en la pintura italiana del Trecento desde fuentes patrísticas y teológicas". Ilu. Revista de Ciencias de las Religiones, 20 (2015): 193-230. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/rev_ILUR.2015 In his comment on this Washington Annunciation David M. Robb (1936, "The Iconography of the Annunciation in the Foureenth and Fifteenth Centuries", Art Bulletin, 18.4, New York, December 1936, 506-508) Dhanens, Elisabeth, 1980, Hubert and Jan van Eyck, New York: Tabard Press, 355, 358, fig. 221. 52 Lane, Barbara G., 1984, The Altar and the Altarpiece: Sacramental Themes in Early Netherlandish Painting. New York, 45-47, fig. 28. 53 Snyder, James E., Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350-1575. New York, 1985 fig. 103. 54 Nash, Susie, 2008, Northern Renaissance Art. Oxford History of Art. Oxford, 205. 55 When commenting this paintg by van Eyck, AmandaSimpson (2007, Van Eyck. The complete work (London, Chaucer Press, 128 p.2007 forget to mention the temple painted here. 56 In his comment on this Washington Annunciation, Craig Harbison (2008, Jan van Eyck, The Play of Realism, Reaktion Books, Londres, 1991, 175-176, fig. 114) comments the painted temple according to a purely formal and stylistic approach, without realising its theological meanings.
gyman or friar, acting as the iconographic programmer of this Marian scene-is aware of the profound doctrinal significance that this temple assumes here, as a symbol of the Virgin Mary as the templum Dei, in the Mariological and Christological projections that we have explained above. Borchert 57 , entertain themselves only in the formal or stylistic aspects of the temple. Only a few iconographers, such as Panofsky 58 and Schiller 59 , venture some doctrinal interpretations of specific elements of this temple, although these are gratuitous and unjustified, as not based on documentary arguments. Barthélemy d'Eyck (ante 1420-post 1470) -if he is the author of this work attributed to him-stages The Annunciation, c. 1443-1445, of the church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine in Aix-en-Provence (Fig. 6) 60 , in a very original way, in the outstanding context of a large Gothic temple, with an oblique view towards the semi-hidden apse. Covered with a red cope and kneeling in front of Mary, Gabriel begins his announcement with the compliment Ave gratia plena Dominus tecum, inscribed in a line that leaves his mouth towards its recipient. The crestfallen Virgin, kneeling before an elaborate lectern in which her prayer book is open, extends the arms with the hands outstretched in a gesture that could be interpreted as acceptance of the design of the Most High to make her the mother of his divine Son preserving her virginity. In the upper left corner, the Almighty blesses 57 In his extended comment on this Annunciation by Jan van Eyck, Till-Holger Borchert (Van Eyck. Köln, Taschen, 49-51) only takes into account the formal and stylistic aspects of this temple, without addressing its doctrinal meanings.. 58 n his comments on this Annunciation in a church, Erwin Panofsky, (1953, Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins andCharacter. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1953: 1:137-139, 147-148, 193-194, 2: pl. 111, fig. 238) brings some suggestive, although insufficiently justified "interpretations" on the stylistic romanesque and gothic elements of this temple (windows, murals, tiles) (p. 137-139). Nevertheless he does non interprets the temple as a dogmatic symbol of Mary. 59 In her extended comments on this van Eyck Annunciation, the prestigious iconographer Gertrud Schiller (1971, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. London, Lund Humphries, 50-52, fig. 116), after repeting many interpretations by Panofski (without mentioning him), asserts in an unjustified way: "We see how the symbolism of the fifteenth century immediately makes the world and nature -mastered for purposes of artistic representation-intelligible. Objects, architectonic details, plants and instruments become allusions to transcendental realities. In the process a system of intellectual references and realities was created which was hidden behind the artistic repre sentation of nature, space, the world and movement." (Schiller, 1971, 50). Erwin Panofsky (1953, 133-134, 307, note 277 1 , and note 305 2 ) says nothing about the doctrinal symbolism of the temple painted in this Aix Annunciation. 62 Nishino, Yoshiaki, 1999, "Le Triptyque de l'Annonciation d'Aix et son Programme iconographique", Artibus et Historiae, vol. 20, n o 39 (1999): 55-74. 63 In that order of ideas, Yoshiaki Nishino points out: "L'Annonciation [de Barthélemy d'Eyck en Aix-en-Provence] a, en effet, lieu à l'intérieur d'une égllise, lieu que St. Bernard qualifie de 'chambre pudique' ou 'chambre virginale' où la Vierge se retire pour prier Dieu; dans ce contexte, la Vierge est elle-meme comparée à une église, au Temple de Salomon, à l'Arche de l'Alliance, et est appellée 'verbi palatium', palais du verbe faut chair." (Nishimo, 1999: 65).
Mary and breathes into her the fertilizing ray of light, which, traversing the side rosette, conveys in its wake the minuscule Christ child carrying a cross on his shoulders, before falling upon the Virgin.
Apart from these narrative elements, it suits to highlight in this Aix Annunciation the shape of a massive temple that the intellectual author of this painting has given to Virgin's house, wanting to illustrate the deep dogmatic meanings hidden into this painted temple as a symbol of Mary in her status of templum Dei. Now, many commentators of this Aix Annunciation entertain only in the formal and stylistic features of this painted temple, as it happens in the case of Panofsky 61 . To our knowledge, only the Japanese historian Yoshiaki Nishino 62 gives -based on a quote from Saint Bernard-some brief (quite debatable) iconographic interpretations of the doctrinal meaning of the temple 63 . However, as much as they have gone unnoticed by most of the commentators on this work by Barthélemy d'Eyck, the doctrinal implications symbolized in the temple painted in this Aix Annunciation have extraordinary relevance, as we have shown above, based on an abundant corpus of patristic and theological arguments.
Petrus Christus (c. 1410/15-c. 1475/76) -if he painted this work attributed to him-structures The Friedsam Annunciation, c. 1450, from the Metropolitan Museum in New York, according to an entirely exceptional arrangement. When placing the Virgin standing on the narthex's lintel of a temple with the door closed behind her, while the angel Gabriel is outside, the author of this painting creates a unique case in the context of the 15th-century Flemish painting.
This panel has sparked a series of debates on its authorship among prestigious experts, including Max J. Frieddländer 64 and Erwin Panofsky. They have assigned it to Jan van Eyck, or his brother Hubert van Eyck or the van Eyck brothers' workshop, while other specialists agree in attributing it to Petrus Christus, an attribution that for now remains the most acceptable. On the other hand, almost all historians and iconographers who have analyzed this painting, such as Friedländer, Panofsky, or Elisabeth Dhanens 65 , have focused only on historiographical and formalist questions, such as authorship, style, technique, and historical record.
Apart from these positivist discussions, the relatively few experts who have formulated some iconographic interpretations of this Annunciation, such as Panofsky 66 or Gertrud Schiller 67 , are content to see the opposition between some Romanesque and Gothic elements present on the temple façade as a metaphorical image of the opposition between Judaism (the Romanesque) and Christianity (the Gothic), or in the extended (fundamentally wrong) advice that lilies signify the purity of Mary 68 , or even in the unwarranted claim that this painted temple identifies Mary as the institutional Church.
We will not stop now to enter into these interminable historiographical debates or formalist disquisitions since our interest is to present sufficient documentary arguments to justify that this temple is a double symbol of Mary and Christ, as we have shown above. That will contribute, by rebound, to dismantle some straightforward "interpretations" given so far on the temple painted in this unusual Annunciation. The double-paged Annunciation depicted by the Master of Charles of France (active c. 1450-1475) in the Livre d'Heures de Charles de France, 1465, that belonged to Charles, Duke of Normandy and brother of King Louis XI, and today at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, is an exceptional case within the selection of works that we are analyzing. With a very refined and precious style, the artist imagines this Marian event in a context of extraordinary decorative exuberance. On the left page, the angel Gabriel, kneeling on the ground and holding the herald's staff in the left hand, remains in the square, without having entered the building, while a long procession of musical angels descending from heaven is behind him. Flying over Gabriel's head, the dove of the Holy Spirit directs a wide beam of rays of light towards the Virgin.
On the right page, Mary stands within an elaborate and luxurious golden Gothic temple, filled with columns, pinnacles, niches, and sculptures of prophets, apostles, and saints. Seated facing forward on a red cushion on the floor and holding open her prayer book, the Virgin slightly turns the face to her right, as if signifying the dialogue she establishes with the heavenly messenger. At the bottom of that scene, in the apse of the temple, a priest officiates the Mass in the presence of some faithful, a detail that means the essential continuity between the episode of the Annunciation -in which the instantaneous Christ's conception/incarnation is accomplishedand Christian religion, founded by who at this very moment is being conceived in Mary's virginal womb. That allusion to Christianity is also highlighted in the form